Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-09-23
ISLAND POND. VERMONT. SEPTEMBER %, Iss7.


ian rounds he used to stop for entertainment
at the house of poor cartwright Coming
there ona day, he found the cartwright
and his family freezing for the lack of
any fuel St. Sebald ordered the man
to go out aud break the icicles from
the side Of the house and bring them in,
an the icicles were brought into the house,
and thrown on the hearth, and they began
to blaze Immediately, and the fCeezing family
gathered around and were R1 by them.
That was a legend but b en- have our
guests come in to gather up old, freezing
sorrows Of our life, kndiag ,m into illun n
ination, and warmth, and Tol cheer. He
who opens his house to Chris IN hospitality,
turns those who are straugS..s into friends
Years viii g, By, and theru will be great
changes in you, and there will be great
changes in them. Some day you will be sit
ting in Loneliness, watching bereavement,
and you will get letter In strange hand
writing, and you will look at the post Office
mark, and say: "Why, l don't know anybody
living in that city;" and You will break the
envelope, and there you .Hill read the story
OF thanks for your Christian generosity long
years before, and how they have heard afar
or Of your trouble. Aud the letter viii be SO
full of kindly "reminiscences and Christian
coincidence, it will be plaster large enough
TO cover up all the deep gashas of your soul.
When we take people into our houses as Chris
tian guests, we taks them into our sympathies
for ever. In bort, Holland, soldier with a
sword at his side stopped at house, desiring
lodging and shelter. The woman o. the house
at first refused admittance saying that the
men OF the house were not at home; but when
he showed his credentials that he had been
honorably discharged from the army, hs was
admitted and tnrrie1 during the night In
the night time ther5 was knocking at the
front door, and two ruifians broke in tods
spoil that household. No sooner had they
come over the doorsill than the armed guest,
who had primed his pie,e and charged it
with slugs, met them, and telling the woman
to stand back, am happy to say, dropped
the two assaulting desparadoes dead at his
feet Well, now thcre are no bandits prowling
around to destroy our HOUSES; but how often
IL is that We find those that have been our
guests become our defenders. We gave th m
shelter first, and then afterward, in the great
conflicts Of life they fouyA for our repu-
taton; they fought for our property; they
fought fer our soul.
Another reward that comes from Christian
hosp. .tality IS in tho assurance that we shall
have hospitality shown to us and to ours. In
the up-turnings of this life who knows in
what city or what land we may be thrown,
and how much we may need an open door
There may come no such crisis to Us, but our
children may be thrown into some such
SGTalI. I1e VIII ID III u Sul lhebilliGA hSo
pitable has free pass through all Christen-
dom. 1t may be that you will have been
dead fifty years before any such stress shall
come upon one OF your descendants; but dc
you not suppose that Col can remember
fifty yearsl And the knucllle Of tho grand
child will be heard against the door OF some
stranger, and that door will open; and it will
be talked over in heaven, and it will be said:
"That mans grandfather, fifty years ago,
gave shelter to a stranger, and now a
strangers door is open for grandson.
Among the Greeks, after entertaining an.
being entertained, they take O piece OF lead
and cut it in two, and the host takes one-halt
of the piece Of lead and the guest the Other
half as they part These two pieces OF lead
are handed down from generation to genera
ton. and from family to family; and after
awhile perhaps one of tho families in want OF
in trouble go out with this one piece of lead
and find the other family with the CORE
spending piece of lead, and no sooner Is the
tally completed than the old hospitality Is
aroused, aud eternal friendship pledged. 3.
the memory of Christian hospitality will &C
down from generation to generation, am
from family to family, and the tally viii
never be lost, neither in this world nor the
world to come.
Mark this: the day will come when we will!
| all be turned out-ofdoors, without any ex
ception-bare- foot, bare-head, no water il
the canteen, no bread in the haversack, anC
we will go in that way into the future world
And wonder if eternal hospitalities will
| open before us, and il we will be received
| into everlasting habitations9 Francis Fres
cobald was rich Italian, and he was very
merciful and very hospitable. One day ar
| Englishman by the name Of Thomas Crom
| well appeared at his door asking fol
shelter and aims, which were cheerfully
rendered. Frescobald afterward lost all hi:
property, became very poor, and wandered
| up into England; and one day he saw pro
cellor Of England and 10! the Lord Chancel
lor of England was Thomas Cromwell, tbs
| very man whom he had once befriended IL
Italy. The Lord Chancellor at the first glance
Of Frescobald, recognized him, and dis
mounted from his carriage, threw his arms
around him, embraced him paid his debts
invited him to his house, and said
"Here are ten pieces of money to pay for the
bread you gave me, and here are ten pieces o.
money to provide for the horse you loaned
me, and here are four bags, in each Of which
are four hundred ducats. Take them and b;
we'll" So it will be at last with US. If W.
entertain Christ in the person of His disciple:
in this world, when we pass up into the next
country, we will meet Christ in a regal pro
cession, and He will pour oil the wealth
of heaven into our lap, and open before
Us everlasting hospitalities. And ., no"
tame are the richest entertainments we cal
give on earth compared with the regal mu
nifcence which Christ will display before ouI
souls in heaven! Twas reading the account
which Thomas Fuller gives OF the entertain
ment provided by George Neville. Among
other things for that banquet they had thre
hundred quarters of wheat, one hundred anC
four tuns of wine, eighty oxen, three thou
sand capons, two hundred cranes, two hun
dred kids, four thousand pigeons four thou
sand rabbits, two hundred and four bitterns
two hundred pheasants, five hundreC
partridges, four hundred plover, on
hundred quail, one hundred curlews, fiftee!
hundred hot pasties, four thousand cold ven
ison pasties, four thousand custards-the Ear
of Warwick acting as steward-and servitor
one thousand. o, what a grand feast wa
that But then compare it with the provision
which Col has made for us on high: tina
great banquet hour; the one hundred an
forty and four thousand guests; all the harp
and trumpets of heaven as the orchestra; tn
vintage of the celestial hills poured into tn
tan1ards all the fruits of the orchards 0
God piled on the golden platters; the angel
of the Lord Tor cup-bearers. and the once
FOLDED starry banner of the blue sky fun
out over the scene, while seated at the hea
of the table shall be the One who eightee
centuries ago declared: II was strange
and We took Me in" Our sins pardonee
may we all mingle in those hospitalitiesl